Soviet Jews under late Stalinism : a story from the western borderlands / Diana Dumitru, Georgetown University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dumitru, Diana, Author.

Series:

New studies in European history.

New studies in European history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Moldova--History--20th century.

Jews.

Jews--Moldova--Social conditions--20th century.

Antisemitism--Moldova--History--20th century.

Antisemitism.

Jews--Bessarabia (Moldova and Ukraine)--Social conditions--20th century.

Moldova--History--1940-1991.

Moldova.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 281 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

How did Soviet Jews rebuild their lives after the Holocaust? How did they navigate Stalinist rule, reclaim their place in society, and seek retribution against those responsible for wartime atrocities? This study uncovers the resilience and adaptability of Soviet Jews in postwar Moldavia, a borderland where identities were fluid, loyalties were tested, and survival demanded ingenuity. Using newly accessed archives and oral histories, Diana Dumitru reveals how Jews pursued professional success, resisted discrimination, and sought vengeance on their wrongdoers. Far from passive subjects of repression, they carved out spaces for agency in an era of contradictions - between social mobility and state-imposed limitations, between the Soviet promise of equality and the rising anti-Jewish drive of the early 1950s, and between ideological control and personal ambition. In doing so, this study offers a fresh perspective on a complex, understudied chapter of 20th-century history.

Contents:

The Return

Jewish Social Mobility in the Newly Sovietizing Periphery

"Life in Romania Was Better than in the Soviet Union": How Bessarabian Jews Tried (and Frequently Failed) to Become

Dutiful Soviet Citizens

Seeking Revenge and Justice after the Holocaust

Fighting Antisemitism in Its Manyfold Forms

From Starry Skies to the Abyss: Jewish National Dreams after 1948.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 23 Feb 2026).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-009-67151-0

1-009-67155-3

1-009-67153-7

OCLC:

1570339406